Since its principal con-
struction from 1163 to 1350,
Notre Dame Cathedral
repeatedly has been dam-
aged and repaired, includ-
ing desecration during
the French Revolution and
major restoration in the
mid-1800s. On April 15, 2019,
the landmark’s roof caught
fire (above). After 15 hours
ablaze, the cathedral’s spire
had collapsed, most of its
roof was destroyed, and its
upper walls were severely
damaged. Work on the
site began quickly; even
the COVID-19 pandemic
caused only a two-month
delay. Architects have said
the project is on track to be
completed in 2024.BY SUSAN GOLDBERG
Deciding What
to Preserve—and How
HISTORIC
MONUMENTSFEBRUARY | FROM THE EDITOR
CULTURAL HERITAGE sites are a
non renewable resource. When they
disappear, they’re gone forever, a loss
akin to the extinction of species.
Today architectural and archaeologi-
cal heritage sites are being destroyed or
imperiled at an alarming rate. They’re
threatened by rising seas (Venice),
pollution (the Taj Mahal), overtourism
(Angkor Wat), encroaching develop-
ment (the Pyramids at Giza), conflict
(Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra) ...
And by accidents.
In this issue, we explore the hercu-
lean efforts to rebuild the roof and spire
of Notre Dame Cathedral, part of the
Banks of the Seine UNESCO World Heri-
tage site in Paris. Before it was wracked
by fire in spring 2019, the landmark
drew some 12 million visitors a year.
We’ll take you behind the scenes of the
rebuilding, through the work of pho-
tographer Tomas van Houtryve, writer
Robert Kunzig, and artist Fernando
Baptista. You’ll see debris cleared, chap -
els restored, statuary saved.
You’ll also confront thorny ques-
tions about cultural heritage sites. As
Kunzig writes, “What part of the past
is worth preserving and transmitting
to posterity? What duty do we owe
the creations of our ancestors, what
strength and stability do we draw
from their presence— and when, on
the contrary, do they become a lead
weight, preventing us from projecting
ourselves into the future?”
Humankind has answered that
query differently in different places.
In Dresden, Germany, the Frauen-
kirche was an 18th-century baroque
church whose bell-shaped dome was
a landmark. In February 1945, one of
the most destructive Allied bombing
attacks of World War II killed an esti-
mated 25,000 people and reduced thecity to rubble. As Dresden, then in East
Germany, slowly rebuilt after the war,
the Frauenkirche remained in ruins.
But after German reunification, the
church was reconstructed using many
of its original stones, as a statement of
peace and harmony.
Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial
Church, better known as the Gedächt-
niskirche, also fell to bombing but met
a different fate. Its spire has been left a
ruin on purpose, to be what Germans
call a mahnmal —a “warning monu-
ment” against war and destruction.
Like the Frauenkirche, Notre Dame
is being rebuilt as close as possible to
how it was before, including using the
original, toxic metal—lead—for the
roof. That choice was controversial,
as future choices are bound to be in
the debate about how to restore and
maintain historic buildings.
We at National Geographic don’t
claim to have the “right” answers on
preservation; there may not even be
right answers. What we will do is con-
tinue to monitor the care of cultural
heritage sites, as a matter of significance
to humanity’s past, present, and future.
Thank you for reading National
Geographic. jPHOTO: THIERRY MALLET, AP/SHUTTERSTOCK